“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA.”
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said he will be signing an executive order to reform the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or get rid of the agency altogether. During a stop in Ashville, North Carolina, an area ravaged by Hurricane Helene, Trump held a press conference in the airport and said, "I'll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA." Trump was on the ground to assess hurricane damage months after two tore through in rapid succession.
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View on X"I think, frankly, FEMA's not good. I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to go and, whether it's a Democrat or Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA," Trump added.
Locals in North Carolina criticized FEMA's response to the disaster, they say included refusals to allowing local people to go out and help others in the state.
"They've never been to the area and they want to give you rules that you've never heard about. They want to bring people that aren't as good as the people you already have. And FEMA's turned out to be a disaster," Trump said.
In addition to FEMA's operations in North Carolina, it was reported that a FEMA employee was told by superiors to skip over aiding homes that had Trump signs displayed in Florida when Hurricane Milton came through the state. Later, these statements were attributed to concerns that Trump supporters are hostile.
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